


Fireflies

by dawnangel14



Category: One Piece
Genre: Childhood Friends, F/M, Fluff, Friendship/Love, Humor, Major Character Injury, Nakama, One Shot Collection, Romance, Romantic Comedy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-01-25
Updated: 2013-07-02
Packaged: 2017-11-26 19:55:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/653855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dawnangel14/pseuds/dawnangel14
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>30 pieces of ZoNa for the 30onepiece's prompt challange! Round Six, expect fluff, romance and, of course, humor!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Treasure Hunt

**Author's Note:**

> As regards the title of this, I couldn't think of anything clever and was listening to "Fireflies" by the Owl City so... I know, I'm lame. Sorry.
> 
> Anyway, this is part of the LJ community '30 Pieces' prompt challenge. If you want to visit them, let me know by review or PM and I'll send you the link, it's really awesome and the other writers are amazingly good, you should really check it out. And this ended up being longer than I initially planned, not sure why... and I don't really like the end, but I couldn't think of anything else to put. I hope you like it anyways.
> 
> Btw, this first piece is set before entering the Grand Line, but after Loguetown. So, this author note up here has become really long. Let's get this started!

"No."

"Why not?" Nami insisted, tapping her foot impatiently.

"Because I don't want to." Zoro replied bluntly. "Take the ero-cook with you, he'll be more than glad."

"He can't! He needs to stay so Luffy won't finish off what little supplies we have."

"Then why me?"

"Usopp's busy, you're the only option left. Don't feel so special."

"That's how you ask for a favour?"

"I don't care. I need you to come with me for protection, and that's what you're going to do."

"Yeah right. I'd like to see you try, witch."

"Come on!" the navigator yelled.

"I'm not helping you and that's it! If you want the damn treasure go find it yourself!"

 

**oo00oo00oo00oo00oo**

 

"I hate you, stupid money-crazy witch." Zoro insulted.

"Oh that's so sweet! I love you too Zoro!" she teased, an evil smirk present on her face.

"So where are we going anyway?"

"Here we are. If you hadn't got lost, even through you were walking behind me, we would've arrived a long time ago."

"You want my help or not?"

After walking by the beach a long time, they had finally arrived to a cavern by the seashore, which Nami had found while she was making the island's map. She obviously thought there was some treasure inside, but he couldn't be less interested, even if he tried, yet it would be unwise for her to enter the place on her own. Plus, there was always that stupid debt he had...

"Ok, you go first." Nami ordered.

"Don't order me around! And why me first?"

"Long version or short version?"

"Short."

"You owe me three hundred beri." she simplified.

"Fuck you."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm a horrible person, whatever. Let's go!"

Zoro sighed and entered the cave, followed closely by the orange-haired woman. So far, it all seemed normal, there was poor illumination, practically none but they managed to see their surroundings. The place was damp and creepy-looking, like every cave Nami had seen in her life. Which freaked her out.

"Just a stupid cave, just a stupid cave, huge treasure ahead, think of the treasure." Nami said, trying to reassure herself.

"Just how deep is this cave?" the swordsman sighed, thinking of the precious time he was losing instead of training or doing what he was doing before being assaulted by the navigator... sleeping.

Eventually they had to get somewhere. And they did. Or so they thought, because they got so far away from the entrance than there was no illumination at all, it was completely dark and none of them could see a thing, they couldn't even see each other.

"Oi, Nami, where are you?" he called out.

"Right beside you, moron!" she answered. "Ugh, I hate this, I can't even see what's in front of me!" she heard footsteps going further in. "Don't move! Last thing I need is you getting lost!"

"Then hold my hand."

"... Excuse me?"

"Hold my hand. That way we won't get separated." he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh."

"What were you thinking?"

"Nothing. Let's get this done, there's treasure waiting for me, I mean, us somewhere ahead."

He reached out his hand and Nami somehow found it in the dark and grabbed it. It was odd, she expected it to be rough and harsh, yet it felt strangely soft, tender, like his skin was made of velvet. She found it awkward, after all he was a rough man who kept training all day, but decided to pay no attention to the feeling, her mind was now focused on finding the damn treasure and get the hell out of the creepy cavern.

They advanced like this for a while. Nami walked with her other hand touching the wall, checking that they weren't going to fall off a cliff or that they would bump into a wall or something of the sort. With the crew she had, she had already gotten used to stuff like that happening.

Finally, her hand found an end to the wall, apparently they were tu turn right now since there was no wall in that direction. They did so, and there they found that their eyes were a bit more used to the darkness and were able to detect a few things. The wooden sticks at their feet, for example. Zoro picked up one.

"If we had fire, this could be useful." Zoro commented.

"We have." she answered, taking from her pocket something. "I have Sanji-kun's matches."

"Why do you have them? More importantly, why the hell didn't you use them earlier?"

"I thought it would be better to save it for emergencies." she explained matter-of-factly.

"Emergencies? We were walking in the dark! Don't you think that qualifies?"

"Stop whining Zoro and let me light that stupid stick!"

"If you don't go to hell I'll take you there myself." he muttered under his breath.

Luckily, she didn't hear him. The navigator snatched the stick from his hands and inmediately lit it up. Their new source of light wasn't enough to illuminate the whole room, but at least they could now see each other and a bit of the surroundings.

Nami started advancing, without noticing the rocks on the ground, over which she tripped over. Cursing her clumsiness, she tried to stand up when she noticed the stick, which had fell out of her hands, had spread its fire on the ground. There was a long road made by some material that quickly caught on fire, like powder, but it didn't explode. Instead, the room was filled with light, the fire spreading around the edges and catching on quickly, illuminating the place but not burning it.

The two pirates looked at each other, shocked. The place looked like an ancient chamber, with a narrow path in the middle of the room that lead to a wider spot in the end, in which was a big pile of...

"Treasure!" Nami's eyes became beri signs and she ran towards the huge chest loaded with golden coins.

Zoro rested his right hand on the swords and followed the navigator, who was now admiring her treasure, her eyes literally glowing at the sight. He ran his fingers through his hair, confused.

"Isn't there supposed to be some kind of trap here?"

"What?" she got out of her enthusiasm to look up at him.

"The treasure isn't protected by anything. Don't you think it's strange there's nothing guarding it, like a trap or a monster?"

"Sure it is odd... but well, nothing good will come from complaining about it, right?"

The money clouding her good judgment, she took a few golden coins of the chest, starting to pack them up in her pocket.

That's when it all went wrong.

The ground started shaking. No, that's not correct. The spot and the narrow path of the chamber started trembling dangerously, and Nami stood up immediately, fear taking over her. Zoro looked around, searching for a source for the sudden tremor. Then it dawned at him.

"It's a trap!" he yelled at her. "The whole damn thing is going to fall!"

Noticing he was right, both of them started racing through the corridor and back to the entrance, where the ground wasn't trembling. He was quick enough to make it to safety, but Nami just had to stop before she got to the entrance and turned around.

"Wait! My treasure..."

"NAMI!"

It happened really fast, but for her it was in slow motion.

Nami started falling down. She hadn't noticed it before, but underneath the narrow rock path was nothing, just a big and empty nothing, complete darkness and -very probably- a terribly painful death. And that was where she was heading to, and she didn't have the time to react. She didn't even know how to react.

Luckily, he did know how to react.

Nami noticed she wasn't falling anymore. Her hand was stuck with something. She looked up to find out what it was and realized she wasn't stuck, she was being held by something. And that something was Zoro, who was stopping her from falling and cursing under his breath.

"Damn... money-loving... crazy... bitch..." he panted, trying to bring her upwards and not fall down with her in the process, since he wasn't holding onto anything.

"Zoro..."

Somehow, thanks to his sorprising strength, he was able to slowly pull up the still-shocked navigator. The strength of said action made him fall on his back to the ground once he did pull her up, and she fell inevitably on top of him. None of them even cared, remaining oblivious of their actual position, as both breathed in and out, panting and gasping for air, still agitated due to the near-death experience she just had, the run and the whole thing, actually. It was more tiring than he initially thought it would be.

Nami suddenly became aware of the position she was in. She was on top of the sowrdsman whole anatomy, quite literally. Flashing three different shades of red, she sat down next to him, looking on a different direction to hide her embarrassment. Zoro didn't notice it, or if he did he decided not to comment on it, which was probably the wisest thing to do.

"My treasure..." Nami sobbed, looking down towards the darkness.

"What's more important, the treasure or your life?" Zoro asked her, standing up.

Before meeting the straw hats, she wouldn't have been able to answer that question, not after what she had lived and was living with Arlong. Now, after all what had happened, she was able to turn around to him with an honest smile.

"My life, of course." Nami stood up and walked towards the exit. "Should we go back?"

"Best idea I've heard in the whole day." he smirked, following her towards the darkness that awaited them before getting to the cave's exit.


	2. The other side of the door

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is set somewhere before arriving to Arabasta, because Vivi's in it.

Sanji smiled, satisfied with himself. He had finished his lovely Nami-san's drink and was now prepared to give it to her and accept her praises and love in return. Or at least he hoped so. But a man is allowed to dream, right?

The cook exited the kitchen and examined the deck of the Going Merry. No, 'his' beautiful angel wasn't there, so there could only be two other places where she could be. Her room or the mikan grove. The latter was completely deserted, so he went towards the women's quarters, noodle-dancing all the way.

However, Sanji froze on his tracks when he was about to knock on the door. He heard voices, giggling and whispering. There were two voices, one of them was from Nami but the other one was -he realized in horror- a male. A man had been granted entrance to Nami-san's private room? Who could be that luck- pervert? Was he trying to abuse Nami-san? Sanji's head kept revolving around these thoughts, about to explode as he couldn't figure out who the voice belonged to.

"Sanji?"

The whisper from behind made the cook jump on his place and look around nervously, only to find a confused -and quite scared- Usopp.

"Oh, it's just you?"

"What do you mean just me?" Usopp replied, offended. "I'm the Great Captain Usopp! You know I once defeated a sea monster with ju-"

"Yeah, yeah, that's great, go tell Luffy." Sanji returned his attention back to the door, leaning to it in order to listen closer.

"Why are you..."

"Shut up." Sanji growled.

"Fine. I'll just knock on the door then." the sniper was about to do so when Sanji threw him a kick, failing on purpose. "Jerk!"

"Quiet, they'll hear us."

"Who?" Usopp asked, getting next to the blond in order to listen to the conversation on the other side of the door. "It's Nami and... there's a man in there!"

"I know! Who could be the thief trying to steal Nami-san's innocence? She must be trembling in fear, my poor angel!"

"Um..."

Usopp decided not to finish that sentence and avoid getting kicked. Instead, he focused on trying to guess who was in there with the navigator. The volume of their voices increased, so the conversation was more audible now, Nami's laugh could be clearly heard, as well as Sanji's teeth grinding.

"Ha ha, now do it!"

"I know how to do it woman."

"Really? I thought you would get lost along the way."

"I know I won't."

"I believe I'm the one who's winning, Zoro."

"Oh, you just wait. I'm the one who will be winning big time here."

The sound of a zipper being pulled down could be clearly heard, as if the whole world had grown silence for a few seconds.

Both Sanji and Usopp turned as red as it was possible for a human being. The sniper caught his nakama before he went on a rampage and entered the room.

"That shitty marimo! I'm going to kill him! How dare he-"

"Sanji-san!"

Both pirates turned to see the blue-haired princess of Arabasta standing next to them, not quite surprised by the little struggle but yes a bit insecure about how to react.

"Vivi-chwan! I'm so sorry, it's all this idiot's fault!" Sanji went immediately on 'mellorine mode', pointing at Usopp.

"What? You were the one who was eavesdropping!"

"It's not eavesdropping, I'm just taking care that Nami-san doesn't get caught by wrong hands!"

"Eavesdropping who?" Vivi asked, curious. She then turned to her right and it dawned at her. "Were you spying Nami-san?"

"Not technically." Usopp clarified.

"What do you mean?" she replied, confused.

"Look, just listen."

Still doubtful, Vivi decided to follow the instruction and leaned towards the door, listening to the conversation on the other side of it.

"Who did you say was winning, witch?"

"Damn you."

"Your turn now, Nami."

"No way!"

"Oh come one, I did it first, now it's your turn for the zipper to go dow..."

"Ugh, fine. You're no fun."

"Yeah, right."

Vivi understood. She finally understood, and she took a hand to her mouth to cover it as if she had said something wrong, completely embarrassed. Usopp just looked around, panicked and wondering where the hell was their captain. As for Sanji, well...

"Oh no, that does it! That shitty swordsman won't get to see so much of Nami-san!"

And with that said, he kicked down the door with one hit, startling the people on the other side of it.

"Nami-swaaaaan! Don't worry, your brave knight has come to rescue you from the shitty bea-"

As the cook walked in, he came to a spot where he completely stopped. Usopp and Vivi, worried and puzzled, followed him, and entered into a quite odd scenario.

Zoro was sitting in the middle of the room, shirtless, his shirt with its zipper down and tossed on the other side of the room. In front of him was Nami. with a hand on the zip of her sweater and the tiniest hint of a blush across her face. In between them was a deck of cards and various other cards spread next to it.

"What the hell, ero-cook?"

"What's going on, Sanji-kun? Usopp? Vivi?"

The three looked at the scene as if they had entered a new, magical world. The only one who was able to articulate any word was the crew's sniper.

"What are you doing?"

"Playing strip poker." Nami explained as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Zoro has a debt and he insists that he can pay it back this way."

"And I'm not doing it that bad, witch." Zoro added with a smirk.

"Yeah, yeah, you're still far behind. So far behind." Nami laughed. "So, why did you knock down our door, Sanji-kun?"

"I... I thou... thought you w... would like a drink?" Sanji stuttered, mentally cussing himself.

"Sure, I would like one." she replied with a smile.

That smile was enough for the cook to turn into his old, lovestruck self in a couple of seconds.

"I left it in the mikan grove. I'll get it right away, Nami-swan!"

"I just wanted my book." Vivi explained, picking up a book -the first one she saw, actually- and quickly exiting.

"I was looking for Luffy, have you seen him?" Usopp blurted quickly.

He had ran after the other two before the swordsman and the navigator had the chance to reply. The two looked at each other and sighed.

"Perverts."

"Yeah. I would expect this from the cook, but the others..."

Nami took the card and mixed them with the rest of them. As she shuffled the entire deck of cards, she decided to ask that question that had been revolting in her mind for a while.

"Should we tell them we had sex earlier?"

"Maybe later."


	3. Justice

Bellemere took the last of the mikan from the grove and dropped it on the basket the eight year old with blue hair next to her was holding. The former police officer removed the sweat from her face as she patted the child on her head.

"Go take it inside, Nojiko." she asked, taking out a thin cigarette from her pocket and proceeding to light it.

"Ok!" Nojiko nodded, taking the small basket with her towards the house.

As Nojiko left, she ran into her sister Nami, who was two years younger than her, and miraculously they didn't crash into each other, since Nami was running. The younger sister arrived to where Bellemere was, with a wide grin and a piece of paper in her hands.

"Bellemere-san! Look at what I did!"

Said woman took the paper and examined it. It was the sketch of a map, of some island, and incredibly accurate for a six year old kid, which surprised her. Then she just smiled, looking towards the small orange-haired girl.

"So you've already decided you want to be a cartographer, eh?

"And a navigator!" she added, excited at the thought. "There are many places I haven't visited! Like this island!"

"Sounds like a good dream." Bellemere commented. "Oh, hi Kuina."

Nami then noticed the ten year old girl with short, blue hair on the other side of the mikan grove, which separated their property from their neightbours'. Kuina, their neightbour, crossed the grove and came to greet them.

"Good morning, Bellemere-san, Nami-san." she said respectfully.

"Hello Kuina." Nami smiled.

"Is Koshiro home? He asked for a delivery today." Bellemere remembered.

"He's gone to pick him up now, but I can receive it if you want."

"Oh, so he's coming today." the red-haired woman said, blowing some smoke from her cigarette into the air. "Big day, eh?"

"Father was looking forward to it. I had to stay to keep practicing." Kuina raised the bamboo sword on her hand to emphasize her point.

"You work too much, kiddo." Bellemere laughed lightly.

"Who's coming, Bellemere-san?" Nami asked, completely oblivious.

"One of the kids at the dojo was left homeless. Father's taking him in." Kuina explained.

"Oh, so you know him? How is she?" Nami asked, excited at the prospect of making a new friend.

"He. He's a boy." Kuina clarified. "And I haven't met him, just saw him once or twice. Tried to beat me on both occasions." she smirked at the thought and the woman laughed again.

"So he's an confident one. Now I'm looking forward to this."

As if on cue, a small, black car arrived to the entrance of Kuina's house. Out of it came the elder man with glasses and hair tied into a small ponytail. From the other seat he descended. Nami watched, hidden behind Bellemere. The boy was about her age -a year older she would discover later- and a bit taller. His most prominent feature was his hair, green as algae, and she wondered if it was natural. Of course it was, who would dye his hair at such a young age? But that wasn't the point. His face, it seemed extremely confident, yet a bit cold and distant somehow. She asked herself if he was a prick. He certainly looked like one for her, though she wasn't sure why.

"Good morning, Miss Bellemere." Koshiro smiled, approaching them. The boy followed closely behind.

"Morning to you too, Koshiro." she greeted. "So, the little brat's finally here, huh?"

Koshiro seemed a bit perturbed at first as regards her choice of words, but decided not to comment on it. He never did.

The woman looked downwards, towards the small boy, expecting him to introduce himself. When he didn't, she sighed.

"What's your name, kiddo?"

"Zoro." he answered. "Roronoa Zoro."

"Roronoa Zoro, I'm Bellemere." she introduced herself, throwing her cigarette to the ground and stepping on it. "If you turn out to be an irrespectful little brat, I'll shoot you in the head, understood?"

Bellemere turned around and, taking the last basket of mikan left, marched towards her own house.

"I'm Nami, by the way." the orange-haired girl mentioned, running after her mother. "Bellemere-san, wait for me!"

Zoro watched them walk away confused. Did she actually mean that? Or was she just one of those adults who threatened you based on looks, already judging you by appearance? What a bizarre woman she was...

"She really means that, Zoro." Koshiro smiled at the boy, as if he had read his thoughts. "She was a police officer once, with deadly accuracy I might add. If I were you, I would follow her advice."

That said, the man retreated to the safety of his home, followed by Kuina and, after a moment of brief hesitation, Zoro.

**oo00oo00oo00oo00oo**

"Damn." he cussed under his breath.

"Hmp." Kuina muttered, picking up her bamboo sword. "You lost again, Zoro. I already lost count by now."

"Twenty-two." he panted, trying -and failing- to get up. "I'll definitively... beat you... next time..."

"Stop those foolish illusions and come inside before Father notices we're up."

Without waiting for a reply, Kuina entered the house, leaving him outside under the moonlight. Zoro tried to stand up once again and this time was successful. He looked around for his bamboo sword, which had been sent flying by his opponent, but it was nowhere to be found.

Finally, he spotted it, by the mikan grove. In the hands of his orange-haired neightbour.

"Give me the sword." Zoro asked rather rudely, extending his hand for her to follow his instructions.

"Ask it nicely." she replied, sticking out her tiny tongue at him.

"Little b-"

He launched himself to attack her, but froze on his tracks when the wound inflicted by Kuina to his right leg released a wave of cold pain which affected his entire body, and he fell on his knees, gasping for air and panting heavily. Seeing this, Nami ran inside the house, momentarily forgetting the bamboo stick.

"Damn... her..." he muttered, crawling to reach the bamboo sword. Who knew he could get so injured by a bamboo stick? Damn Kuina and her expert techinque...

Being surprised doesn't really describe the shock Zoro felt when Nami came back from her house, and she even had a first aid kit on her hands! Was this kid bipolar or something? First she teases him, now she helps him? Maybe not bipolar, but a damn witch was for sure.

"I'm sorry." she commented. "For watching."

"Nah, it's ok." he said. "Did I look too bad?"

"A bit." she giggled, taking out a bandage. "But it isn't your fault. Kuina is very strong. Everyone knows that, don't you?"

"I know."

"Then why do you keep challenging her? I know this isn't the first time."

"Because I can't get stronger if I don't fight against the best." Zoro explained as if it was obvious. "I want to be the strongest swordsman there is. For that, I must beat every one, Kuina, Koshiro, even Hawk-eye..." he suddenly felt silent, as if he had said something that wasn't meant to be said.

"Who's Hawk-eye?"

"The best swordsman in the world." he revealed with a sigh. "Agh!"

"If you don't move, this won't hurt." she assured him, making softer movements with the bandage around his leg. "So he's the current best swordsman. Is he tough?"

"Tough as hell. He once came to the dojo."

"And you want to beat him."

"Yeah. It's my dream."

He smirked when he talked about his dream. He seemed happy about it. Nami understood why. Every map she drew, no matter how little or insignificant it was, it still was a step closer towards becoming a cartographer. And a navigator. She understood that feeling of excitement, feeling you were getting closer.

"Aren't you going to finish banda-"

"I understand." she confessed. "What it means to have dream. I want to become a navigator and a cartographer. And sail the whole world and draw a map of it."

"I see..."

There was a silent agreement. No, it was more of a promise. Promise not to forget those dreams. They were young, but their minds had been set. They would archieve those goals, no matter what happened in between.

"It's done." Nami informed. "I should go in before Bellemere-san notices. Are you ok on your own?"

"Yeah."

"Good night."

"'Night."

**oo00oo00oo00oo00oo**

"Done." A nine year old Nojiko had now finish the last details of her hair, wrapping it up with a black bandanna to match her black outfit. "What do you think of this bandanna, Nami?"

She turned towards her younger sister. A seven year old Nami was leaning by the window, looking outside but not really staring at anything in particular, she was just lost in thoughts. Nojiko already knew that, but it was her duty as the elder sister to distract her and cheer her up.

"Hello, Nami? Nami? Earth to Nami!"

"Uh?" she suddenly became aware her name was being called. "Oh, Nojiko. Sorry."

Nami stood up and cleaned some dirt from her black skirt. Nojiko looked at the window and understood that she was actually looking at something too. The eight year old, green-haired kid was at the backyard next door, with a bamboo sword, kicking the crap out of a wooden puppet.

"For God's sake, Nami. If you want to go to cheer him up, then just go."

"But, we might get late..."

"It's in about an hour. You've got time." Nojiko encouraged her.

"What's going on?" Bellemere's head appeared from behind the girls' bedroom door.

"Nami's going to cheer up Zoro right now." Nojiko informed.

"Oh, good. The boy looks like crap. Go talk to him, Nami." she approved, and quickly disappeared again.

And so, Nami went.

**oo00oo00oo00oo00oo**

"Hey, Zoro."

No response.

"How are you?"

No response.

"Do you want anything?"

No response.

"Something to drink?"

No response.

"You don't want to talk?"

No response either. Through it was an obvious yes this time. She was about to leave when she heard something.

It was a small, almost quiet sound, but the quietness of their surroundings made it perfectly audible for her - crac. Nami turned around. The bamboo sword had broken in two, and Zoro threw the piece on his hand swiftly, as if it had burnt him. It landed on the opposite side of the backyard.

"Zoro..."

"It was me." he said as if she had asked something. "It was my fault. It's my fault Kuina's dead."

"Wh... what are you talking abo..."

"The other night... we had another battle. It was battle number two thousand one. I thought I would really beat her this time, so I challenged her to fight with real swords."

"Re... real swords..." she muttered, concerned. Could it be...

"She won." Zoro chuckled. "I was stupid, she beated me anyways. But... when she went to put away the sword she... she fell down the stairs and..." he turned around, revealing the stream of tears that fell from his black eyes like a waterfall. "It was me, I killed her! If I hadn't been so stupid she..."

"You didn't kill her!" Nami tried to assure him, but it was useless.

"Yes I did! If we had battled with regular swords, like always, she..."

"Then she would've fell while putting away the bamboo sword." Nami pointed out. "It's not your fault, it's nobody's fault! Please Zoro, you can't blame yourself for this!"

"Na..."

"You had a dream, right? You want to be the greatest swordsman in the world, right?"

"R... right."

"You still want to fulfill that dream, right?"

"Right."

"Do you think Kuina would want you to quit that dream over such a stupid thing as blaming yourself?"

Zoro's eyes grew wide at that question. He looked down, as if he was embarrassed for his behaviour, then looked up with renewed determination.

"Right." he muttered, slowly.

"I'll see you later at the funeral, ok?"

He didn't answer, just nodded. Internally smiling, Nami turned around, satisfied she had successfully cheer him up. Well, not cheer him up, he wasn't exactly jumping of joy of course, but at least he wasn't crying or murdering wooden puppets. She did stop, however, when he heard his voice again.

"I promised her. I promised I would be the best swordsman there is. And I will keep that promise. I will be stronger, I will become so great that my name will even reach the heavens!"

She couldn't help but smile at him.

"I'm sure you will."

**oo00oo00oo00oo00oo**

Koshiro entered their neightbours residence, dressed in black clothing which didn't quite suit his style, one of the reasons why he didn't like much funerals. He was followed by a nine year old Zoro, who looked around for any signs of the only people he knew, but it was useless, there was no signs of them.

"Gen-san." Koshiro greeted another man with a bizarre pinwheel on his military cap. "We came here to pay our respects."

"Thank you, Koshiro." Genzo nodded, then looked towards the green-haired kid. "Nami locked herself upstairs. Nojiko's outside through, if you want to talk to he..."

Zoro didn't need to hear anything else. He hurriedly marched upstairs.

**oo00oo00oo00oo00oo**

She knew there was somebody out there, even before he, or she, knocked on the door. He really didn't want to let anybody see her cry, so she just yelled at him. Or her.

"Go away!"

"Nami, it's me, Zoro!"

"Oh. Go away, Zoro!"

The kid tried to open the door, but it was locked from the inside. He glared at the door as if it had the fault for being locked.

"Nami, open up! I swear if you don't, I'll go up the window!"

"Just go away!" she yelled back.

She heard footsteps on the other side of the door. 'Good' she thought. 'He's gone.' She sighed and curled up in fetal position, sobbing but trying to avoid tears, so that nobody would realize she had cried. She couldn't be weak, she wouldn't allow herself to show weakness to anybody, not agai...

"Zoro!" was all she could yell when the boy jumped in from the window. "How did you..."

"The roof is pretty resistant." he commented casually. "Nojiko helped me distract the people outside."

"Wha... what do you want?" Nami demanded.

"Don't cry." Zoro cleaned off a tear from her right cheek. "She wouldn't want that."

"I didn't ask your opinion." she clarified, backing a bit from him.

"It wasn't an opinion. I was remembering. That phrase, you told me that at Kuina's funeral."

"I... This is different."

"I know. I've been there."

"Then why are you here? Go out with the rest."

"You were with me that day. I'm just returning the favour."

She sighed, and seeing he didn't plan on leaving anytime soon he decided to ignore him completely. He sat on her bed, as if he was expecting her to react or say something. She just sat down on the floor of her room, arms crossed and no desire to say something apparently.

One of them had to break the awkward silence at some point. Curiously, it was Nami.

"It was all my fault."

He looked at her, as if trying to figure out her words. Then he realized what she meant.

"Are you quoting me?" he asked mockingly. "I don't think this was your fault at all, Nami..."

"Yes it was!" she yelled. Then she continued more quietly. "I... last night... I had a discussion with Bellemere-san... and I said we weren't a family, that we weren't blood-related..."

Zoro's eyes widened a bit. That was something new, they weren't blood-related? He recalled Koshiro mentioning that Bellemere retired from the police when she started taking care of them. Did that mean that she retired when she adopted Nami and Nojiko?

"She slapped me." Nami pointed towards the faintest hint of a bruise on her left cheek. "She was right, I was stupid believing that. But then I... i ran away. I'm not sure why, but I did it. Nojiko came after me, trying to cool me off. And then..."

"Nami, just... stop it." Zoro silenced her.

That explained how the girls were safe. He knew the rest of the story. A bandit broke into their house, stole some things and killed Bellemere in the process. It was unfair, she was a great woman, a devoted mother... she didn't deserve to die. Zoro knew that much.

"I know who it was." she suddenly took a newspaper article from under her bed. "Arlong. That's his name."

The boy looked at the picture in the newspaper, in which an incredibly tall guy who strangely resembled a shark smiled at the camera. His smile was creepy enough to scare any normal child. Luckily, Zoro wasn't any normal child.

"How do you know?"

"Bellemere-san would never be killed by a normal bandit. Arlong had come before, they had a discussion, something about money. And when I arrived with Nojiko... I swear on my own life I saw him sneak out! I swear, but no one believes me! Nobody believes in what a little kid says!"

She couldn't hold back tears now, it was inevitable. While she cried, Zoro kept studying the newspaper. when he finished reading the article, he just threw the whole paper to a side, and its many pages flew everywhere. Shocked, Nami forgot to cry and looked up at him, confused.

"You are completely sure, right?"

She nodded. "Right."

"You remember my promise, right? You know I will become the greatest swordsman in the world, right?"

"R... right."

"And you know that once I do that, I will bring justice to this, right?"

She looked up at him, confused at the statement.

"I swear on my swordsman's pride." he swore. "That I will make sure justice is done. You believe in me, right?"

Now, Nami looked at the hand he was stretching out for her. Then she looked up at him and nodded, crying as she accepted his hand.

"Right."

**oo00oo00oo00oo00oo**

"So, you're moving, huh?"

Nami glanced towards the moving truck in front of her house, and then back at her soon-to-be-ex neightbour.

"Yes, I am. Gen-san is taking us in." she explained.

She couldn't help but feel a bit odd. She had shared so many things with this boy, with his family, with the entire neightbourhood actually. And now, when she gets on that truck, she would leave all that behind, very behind, together with Bellemere-san's grave...

"We'll stay in touch." she proposed with a smile.

"You know that won't happen." he denied. "And... I think I'm moving out soon too..."

"I see..."

Both fell silence, contemplating the grass below them as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. The voice of Nojiko was what threw them back into reality.

"Hey Nami! Let's get going!"

Nojiko was already at the truck, together with Genzo, who was driving it. Nami looked at Zoro one more time and, gaining some courage, she decided to do it. She planted a swift, sweet kiss on his right cheek.

He felt not just his face, but his entire body grow red after that. He looked at her wide-eyed, and tried to say something but stuttered like mad. She giggled, he was still too innocent to react to something like that. Some say girls mature sooner than boys. Nami started to believe that.

Before leaving, she stuck out her tongue at him.

"Goodbye, Zoro!"

**oo00oo00oo00oo00oo**

A fifteen year old Nami rested her back against one of the trees from her backyard. She picked up one of the mikans from the basket beside her lazily, it was a hot day and she really felt like not doing anything. Her body had grown and developed from her earlier years, she was now a slender, beautiful young woman, and her breasts had started growing too. She chuckled when she remembered the scandal it was telling Gen-san that she needed to start wearing a bra.

"Nami!"

So long for her peaceful time alone. She opened one eye and saw her sister Nojiko, now seventeen years old, running towards her, a newspaper in her hands. She sat down besides her right away, before she could ask anything she was given the paper.

"What is..."

"Just shut up and read the front page!"

Wondering what it was that all about, she just did as she was told.

Local businessman mysteriously murdered

The article itself didn't reveal much. Just that the victim's name was Arlong, he was an important businessman and was found dead on his studio. His injuries were the most curious part of all of it, they were caused by swords, but it seemed as if someone had attacked him with three swords at once, which seemed impossible since humans only have two arms. Except for a suspicious-looking man with green hair spotted near the place the day before, there were no suspects.

Nami could only smirk.

"Justice has been done." she muttered as a small tear of joy fell into the paper.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be a continuation of this one... I couldn't leave things like this!


	4. Before setting sail

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> UA. Continuation of the previous piece.

An eighteen years old girl with short orange hair made the first step into the docks. She saw ships of all sizes and colours, from huge battleships to small fishing boats, all of them were crowded with people who went up and down, either getting ready to depart or they had just arrived to the port and they were descending to land for first time in a while.

She checked again the paper in her hands which confirmed the address, and marched towards the ship she was supposed to board. The Thousand Sunny, that was it's name, she found it quite ridiculous but it was none of her business. After all, she was finally hired as a navigator, and in a crew that planned to sail the whole world! It would give her the chance to finally fulfill her dream, to chart the whole world into one map, made by her and only her. Plus, she knew that Kuragaina Island -Mihawk's island- was on the ship's route, so she might run into...

"Oi, Nami!"

The young woman looked up. There was a ship, a pretty big one, and it had a lion head on the front. Or at least it seemed like a lion head, she wasn't that sure. On top of the lion was that stupid, reckless, childish, and incredibly reliable boy, Monkey D. Luffy. He was the captain, and the one who proposed Nami to join their crew.

"Hey there, Luffy." she greeted as she started climbing up to the ship. "Are we here too early?"

"No, you're the last one." he grinned at her, as if what she had said was funny.

"That's not correct, captain-san. We're still one person short." a female voice corrected.

Nami turned around. A woman with black hair and gorgeous blue eyes was looking at them from the middle of the grassy deck -how the hell was there grass on the deck was beyond her- where she was reading a book. Closing the book, she stood up from the chair she was in and revealed to be taller than Nami and at least ten years older. Still, she was beautiful, and it would be very wrong to call her old.

"You must be our navigator." the woman said. "I'm Nico Robin, archeologist."

"Oh yeah, that's Robin. She knows a lot of stuff and likes to read." Luffy introduced. "She's Nami."

"Good to know I'm not the only girl here." Nami sighed. "So, who's missing?"

"Our swordsman. I fear he might have gotten lost around town." Robin muttered. "I'm glad we have a navigator now. It was quite difficult to navigate without one."

"I imagine. I'll try my best." Nami smiled.

"But there might be something I should warn you about..."

Robin was cut off when one of the doors flew open. A blonde man dashed out of it, twirling around and his eyes curiously transformed into hearts. He was holding a plate of cake in his left hand and a cup of coffee in his right. Miraculously, none of them fell.

"Ah, I can't believe I'm being blessed with such a beautiful sighting!" the man spoke, delivering the cake to Nami and the coffee to Robin. "You must be lovely Nami-swan, I hope you enjoy the cake I made with al my love. Robin-chwan, I made that special coffee just for you, my angel."

"Thank you, cook-san." Robin smiled, taking a sip of her coffee. Nami had frozen. "Navigator-san, this person is Sanji, our cook. As you can see, he's quite... dedicated, towards his female crewmates. Don't let that bother you, I assure you he means no harm. And his cooking skills are quite remarkable."

"Robin-chan is even more beautiful when she praises me!" Sanji claimed as he noodle-danced on the spot.

"If you say so..." Nami took the fork next to her plate and ate a bit of the cake. She was delighted. "This is delicious!"

"I'm glad you love it Nami-swan!"

"Oi Sanji, I'm hungry! Go make meat!" Luffy ordered, leaving the lion head.

"You just had lunch, shithead!" Sanji immediately left his lovestruck mode and delivered a powerful kick to his captain's head.

"Is he bipolar?" Nami whispered, surprised with the sudden change.

"I guess that's one way to call it." Robin laughed lightly.

"Hey, isn't swords-bro back yet?" another voice rang.

Nami now watched as a big man entered the deck. No, he wasn't big, he was enormous! In comparison to him, she felt tiny all of a sudden. And his most curious feature was his blue hair, how could it be blue? Was it dyed? And besides to him was a more normal-looking person, with curly, black hair and a quite long nose.

"Who's the girlie?" the huge man asked, pointing at her.

"Don't call me that!" Nami snapped.

"She's Nami! She's our navigator!" Luffy exclaimed, completely recovered from Sanji's kick in a matter of seconds. "That's Franky, he's our shipwright! And he's Usopp, our liar!"

"Oi!" the one called Usopp replied instantly. "It's sniper! I'm the sniper of this ship!"

"Long nose-kun, where is doctor-san?" Robin asked.

"He's at the sickbay with Brook. Our milk shortage is really getting to him." Usopp explained.

"So, we set sail?" Franky asked.

"Why don't you come with me, navigator-san? You can leave your bag at the woman's headquarters." Robin pointed at the bag the Nami carried with her, which contained her clothes, some maps, ink, and a picture of Bellemere.

"Oh, ok. We'll come back when we're ready to set sail."

The two women left the deck and headed to their headquarters. While they were gone, another figure arrived at the ship, a person who earned a direct kick from the crew's cook.

"Sanji! Zoro! Don't fight here!" Franky yelled, fearing that his ship would suffer the consequences. Usopp, scared, hid behind him, and Luffy just laughed.

"Shitty marimo! What the hell took you so long?" Sanji yelled.

"Shut up ero-cook! The instructions you gave me were all messed up!" Zoro replied.

"You are the one who's messed up!"

"What was that, bastard?"

"We can't even have one moment of peace, can we?" Robin commented with a smile. "I guess we are now read to leave, navig-"

"Zoro!"

The yell was so strong, the whole ship heard it, even Chopper and Brook at the sickbay.

The man turned around. He possessed green, algae-like hair, and had dark, provocative eyes. He was taller than her now, and quite more built, he had grown muscles incredibly. He also now possessed three piercings on one of his ears, and three swords were inside his green haramaki. Still, in essence, he still was...

"Nami?" he asked back.

Zoro was puzzled. Nami was not only equally confused, but also didn't quite know how to react. A million ideas and emotions crossed her mind at the moment, and she couldn't settle for only one. However, she actually did, choosing the one that seemed more reasonable.

"Agh! Why the hell did you do that for, Nami?" Zoro complained upon receiving a powerful slap across the face.

Nami now proceeded to attack, and punched him in the middle of the stomach. Zoro flinched, and would've fell on his knees if Nami hadn't caught him. Not only did she catch him, but she also held him, much to Zoro's surprise. And then there was a hug. A long hug. She wrapped her hands around him, and he was surprised when he noticed the shoulder her head was laying in was starting to feel a bit wet. She was crying. Surprised he was, indeed. But that didn't allow him to deprive Nami from the hug she needed so much.

"Idiot." she muttered. "You... didn't need to do that... it was a stupid promise..."

"But a promise." he replied, releasing the hug to look firmly into her eyes. "And I never back away from my promises. I swore on my pride that I would make justice."

"And you did." Nami laughed lightly as she removed the tears from her face. She now smiled. "So, what happened to the whole best-swordsman-in-the-world thing?"

With that aside, the two old friends started talking as they retreated to the women's quarters, Zoro commenting on something that made Nami laugh. Needless to say, the rest of the crew felt like they had been completely forgotten.

"What was that all about?" Franky asked, lifting his sunglasses.

"I-I-I'm-no-not af-afra-afraid of he-her."

"Your knees are shaking, bro."

"Shut up!"

"Mellorine..." Sanji muttered, feeling hurt and falling on his knees.

"Oi Robin." Luffy turned towards his smartest crewmember. "Do you know what happened?"

"I'm just as confused as you all are." Robin lied, remembering the confessions of a drunk Zoro with a smile. "But I believe swordsman-san has found his match."


	5. Protection

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is set post-timeskip. And I kept Robin's nicknames for one simple reason: I like them.

"Navigator-san! Swordsman-san!" a worried archeologist shouted.

"Nami-san! Are you alright?" asked the concerned chef from somewhere near her.

"I'm fine, Robin, Sanji-kun. We're both fine." the navigator placed a hand on the cold and oversized rock blocking their path. "But Zoro is unconscious."

"That bastard! When he wakes up, I'l kick his stupid marimo ass all the way back to the ship!"

"That's... never mind." Nami sighed. "Robin, do you think there's any way out of this through the other side?"

"I doubt it. This is probably the only way out."

"Fuck! If only my legs were in normal conditions, I would destroy this stupid pebble like it's made of paper and rescue my Nami-swan and then she would do th..."

"We get the picture." Nami snapped. "But please, Sanji-kun, get Chopper to look at those injuries right away. They looked terrible."

"Your wish is my command, Nami-san!"

"We'll go get captain-san to destroy this boulder. Until so, wait and take care of swordsman-san, please, navigator-san. Let's go, cook-san."

"Right away, Robin-chwan!"

Nami heard the footsteps and soon the cavern fell completely silence. She turned around to look at her unconscious nakama, who lied there, sleep and unaware of the situation they were in.

She sat down next to his face, looking at him breath in and out lightly. Her look fell down to his legs. Like Sanji, he had been severely injured by the traps that flew at the four of them when they advanced further into the cave. They were aimed at their feet, to inmovilize them, and Sanji took a direct hit, while Robin was able to evade it thanks to a wall she built before herself, made of a hundred extra arms and protecting them from the deadly projectiles. As for Zoro, he was hit too... but he had scooped up Nami and carried her on his back, protecting her.

She caressed his green hairs sweetly, then mentally thanked that he was unconscious and retreated her hand to her lap. She remembered he saved her again, that was how he fell into this condition. When exiting the cave, the entire place started shaking. The ceiling started falling, a particularly huge rock was on its way to a paralyzed Nami...

Zoro had been the only one who had seen her, since she was running behind the rest of them. Ignoring his injuries and tossing his precious swords aside, he jumped and grabbed the navigator, holding her close as he launched them forward. He landed with his back against the ground, and the damage his head took from the impact to spare Nami from any pain was too much and he passed out.

This hadn't been the first time, she knew that. Zoro had protected her all along, every time, she still remember that huge guy from Baroque Works, and Captain Foxy, and the battle against Arlong, and other situations, but the question was...

"Why?" she muttered. "Why do you... always protect me... Zoro?"

Nami heard a small grunt and looked up. He was looking at her confused, as if she had asked a question with an obvious answer.

"The strong always take care of the weaker." he explained. "I'm not saying you're weak." he corrected himself. "But I'm stronger than you. You know that. So, I'll still protect you, understood?"

She looked at him, eyes a bit blurry as if she was holding back tears. However, if she was, her next actions didn't quite prove it.

"Idiot." she muttered, punching him lightly on the head. Or what she considered lightly.

"What the hell was that for, witch?"

"What do you think I did these two years, drink tea?" she asked, her tone of voice sounding almost offended. "I know you want to protect me, to protect everyone. But can you trust me a bit more now?"

Zoro just looked away, unsure about this. Nami decided to stand up then.

"The hell are you doing?" he asked, watching her take out her new Clima Tact.

"I'll show you that I don't need protection anymore." she replied, sticking out her tongue at him.

****

oo00oo00oo00oo00oo

"Zoro? Nami? Where are you?"

"Captain-san, I don't believe you'll find them down that rock."

"Oh, ok." Luffy put down the average-sized rock back to the ground and looked around. "So, where are they?"

"Right over there." Robin pointed towards the blocked entrance of the cavern. "That's odd, what is that noise?"

"Gust sword!"

A powerful whirlwind pierced through the rock, directly on the center, and as it was destroyed the whole rock collapsed. Captain and archeologist looked at the entrance of the cavern to see two figures coming out of it, one of them had green hair and had an arm over the one with orange hair, who carried him as he rested his weight on her, and she carried him ignoring how heavy, and much bigger than her, he was.

"Hey, captain." Zoro greeted, lifting his free arm and smirking at them.

"You're alright! I thought you had died!" Luffy yelled dramatically.

"May I ask what happened or should I cover Luffy's ears?" Robin asked with one of her trademark enigmatic smiles.

"What are you implying, woman?" Zoro asked, scratching the back of his head. "What happened was..."

"Nothing happened." Nami interjected. She smiled at Zoro. "I just showed that I don't always need protection."

"But I guess you won't just stop protecting your nakamas, am I right, swordsman-san?"

"Why do you ask when you know the answer?" Zoro smirked at her. "Of course I'll always protect you guys." Nami looked at him oddly and Zoro completed his phrase. "Even if you don't need it."

"Of course! We're nakama!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Yeah, that's why..." Nami mumbled, looking at the swordsman she was carrying with a smile.


	6. Pose

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spoilers for the Enies Lobby arc and the second part of Water 7

"Don't attack!" yielded a man, holding up his camera. "I'm not an enemy!"

"Then who the hell are you?" Nami asked, stopping her attack but not lowering her Clima Tact. "You're in the middle of the battlefield!"

"I'm from a local newspaper!" the man explained, talking loudly over the noise several marines made as they were defeated by the pirates. "Do you mind if I take a picture of you, Nami from the straw hat pirates?"

Momentarily forgetting the battle she was involved in and ignoring the fact that the supposed journalist knew her name and which crew she belonged to, Nami's eyes sparkled with joy and excitement.

Nami pulled her hair upwards in a sensual demeanour, posing with her back exposed and looking seductively at the camera. She smiled at the photographer, her incredibly sexy pose captivating him completely.

"Should I pose like this?"

"Uh... um..."

"Nami! What the fuck?" Zoro roared over the noise, approaching her. "Look around you, woman!"

"Oi Zoro! Don't try to steal my protagonism!" she yelled back at him. "This is my picture, my interview, my fame!"

"This is not an intervi..."

"If you want to get yourself killed, go ahead. Why do I even bother?"

"Ok, was the picture taken?" she asked.

"Y... yes but..."

"Do you need any more? I've got more poses if you want."

"Look out, witch!"

Zoro jumped towards her and threw her to the ground, landing on top of her as a cannon ball flew straight above them, miraculously not injuring them. Nami's eyes widened at the sight of it, now returning to reality and realizing the battle wasn't over. They couldn't relax, not yet.

Still, it would probably be a good idea if he got off her, she noticed. He breathed in and out, agitated, his entire body resting on top of hers. Yes, his entire body, including his... manly... anatomy. Alerted by her threatening look, Zoro stood up immediately as if she had burnt him. However, he did look at her again as she stood up.

"Injured?"

"I'm fine." she said, taking out again her Clima Tact. "I'll help Robin protect the ship, you go with Sanji-kun."

And as the two nakamas set off to do that, the journalist-disguised marine was securing his camera in his clothing as if it was made of gold.

_A few days later, in Water 7..._

"Zoro, I thought we were friends!" Luffy said rather loudly, much to his annoyance. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Zoro you monster!" Chopper cried as if he had been offended. "Aren't we nakamas?"

"The hell are you two talking about?" he cracked one eye open. So long for his nap...

"The newspaper had a quite interesting front page." Robin commented from the table. "It was quite a striking pose from you. And from navigator-san, of course."

Before he could react, Nami bursted in, panting and sweating as if she had just ran a marathon.

"Don't read the newspaper! The yellow press is everywhere!" she screamed.

"I'm afraid you're late for that." Robin said as Nami scanned the room.

"Can somebody explain... wait, by pose you mean..."

"You on top of navigator-san, yes."

"I didn't know nakamas were supposed to be on top of others." Luffy pouted as the navigator and swordsman turned so red tomatoes everywhere would be jealous of their colouring.

"Nakamas don't do that, Luffy. Lovers do, through."

"Robin! Don't give them crazy ideas!" Nami looked around a bit more and relaxed a bit. "Well, at least Sanji-kun has..."

"MARIMO! WHY DID YOU TRY TO RAPE NAMI-SWAN?"


End file.
